We work hard, and as a result we expect to get everything we deserve. We want love, money, success, and fame. (And we want it now!)

There’s so much work involved in cultivating and harvesting our own success that it is easier to move where we think the grass is greener. With the world connected the way it is in modern times, this feels easier than ever before.

Most of society, it seems, is engineered to reinforce the “short-term mentality”. We are compensated and incentivized for immediate gains. Companies are looking to increase profits quarter over quarter. Politicians are forced to band-aid problems in small four year windows without a real regard for the future.

Even interest rates are set up this way. We don’t want want people to be prudent for the long haul. We want them to spend their money now to raise the GDP up a quarter of a notch.

It’s not worth it for many of us to sacrifice the time and the capital if there is significantly less immediate compensation. There are mortgages to be paid and mouths to feed.

However, I believe that the people who really make a lasting impact in this world are those that find a way to consciously buck this trend. It takes a special kind of person. Most things that truly disrupt the status quo take time and effort. If it were so easy to change people’s behaviour, then such an opportunity wouldn’t be there in the first place. Someone would have already done it.

Sticking with an idea, career, or passion for years or decades can be hard to do. Even the best ideas almost never come to fruition with ease. Therefore, it can be tempting to turn away at the first sign of misfortune or a down market. Challenges wear us down mentally and physically, making it difficult to stick to our guns.

I try to be a contrarian in life. When everyone zigs, I like to zag. It’s one of the only ways I know I can “buy low”. It’s tough to do, because when I’m in this position, all signals will constantly try to point me in the opposite direction. To survive, it’s about having conviction and faith in the vision. There can be no second guessing.

What kind of person are you?

Do you have a long-term vision that is bigger than yourself? What are you doing to grind away at it?

To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge. (Socrates)

In today’s knowledge-based economy, one of the biggest assets a person can have is a thirst for continual learning, imagination, and discovery. I’m not really talking so much about acquiring concrete and applicable skills, but more the exposure and understanding of new ideas, paradigms, and thought.

For me, a big part of my weekly routine revolves around reading, listening to podcasts, and seeking out new content to keep me learning and evolving. In this post, I am looking to share with you some of my favourite online media personalities that have given me food for thought and helped me cultivate new ideas or understanding of the world. Sidenote: this list is generally skewed towards areas I am interested in such as entrepreneurship, history, business, and philosophy.

As a forewarning, this is not to be considered an extensive list by any means. There is a wealth of great content out there and these are just some of the ones that float my boat. Also, I’ll be the first to point out that there is a lack of diversity (specifically in regards to women) on this list. I am always looking for new sources of good content, so if you know of any fantastic female podcasters or shows, please forward their stuff over. I’d love to add it to my playlist.

Here’s 9 mind expanding internet personalities worth listening to.

9. Cenk Uygur

Claim to fame: Created The Young Turks, the world’s “largest online news show” with 2 billion views on Youtube as of July 2014.

Why I like him: Cenk ditched mainstream media and took the risk of starting his own independent online show, which now gets insane viewership numbers. I don’t agree with all his viewpoints, but love the fact that he’s brash, independent, smart, and willing to go against the status quo to do something different.

How to catch him: Tune into The Young Turks, or watch this interview on the Joe Rogan Experience:

8. Kevin Rose

Claim to Fame: Kevin co-founded Digg and is now a partner at Google Ventures. He also invested in insignificant companies such as Twitter, Square, and Facebook in between.

Why I like him: Kevin launched a video podcast called Foundation, where he interviews successful tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, Brian Wong, Philip Rosedale, and Jack Dorsey. This is great content. And as a big bonus, he also does the Random Show with Tim Ferriss, which I thank my friend Ryan Glasser for turning me on to.

How to catch him: If you don’t mind a mixed bag, hit up the Random Show. If you want straight up tech/entrepreneur content then go for Foundation.

7. Stefan Molyneux

Claim to Fame: Stefan founded Freedomain Radio, the world’s largest online philosophy show with over 75 million downloads. Stefan is an anarcho-capitalist and atheist.

Why I like him: I’ve learned a lot from Stef. However, his content is a little bit of a mixed bag as he tends to be stubborn about certain things. While some may consider him extreme, I have found some life changing moments in his podcasts.

How to catch him: Selectively at first. If you want to dive deep, hit up his Intro to Philosophy that covers ethics, politics, truth, and knowledge. He also does an intro to Libertarianism (best explanation I have ever seen on it) here:

6. Shane Smith

Claim to Fame: Shane founded VICE and apparently has some of the craziest and most badass stories of all time.

Why I like him: Shane Smith is a boss. If you’re not familiar with VICE, definitely check out their video content. Even better, in my opinion, is listening to Shane directly. He is the king of anecdotes and tells amazing stories about his experiences in the world’s most bizarre places.

5. Jason Silva

Claim to Fame: Film maker, futurist, and epiphany addict

Why I like him: Ever feel like you need an intellectual boost? Maybe you’re just feeling lackadaisical or want to get a shot of optimism about the future? Jason Silva is your man. Every time I watch or listen to him, I feel inspired and motivated to do something. He hits you fast with epiphanies, quotes from great futurists like Ray Kurzweil, and mixes words in beautiful concoctions that are bound to stimulate. The way he delivers his message just gives me goosebumps every time.

4. Tim Ferriss

Claim to Fame: Tim wrote the “Four-Hour Workweek” and other associated books. He has also become a successful Silicon Valley investor.

Why I like him: I knew of Tim originally from the “Four-Hour Workweek”. Since those beginnings, he has really expanded his reach to create awesome content in a few different forms, including his blog, podcast, The Random Show, and additional books. Tim is obsessive about the process and focuses particularly well on “deconstructing excellence”. I’ve learned so much from his talks with writers and successful business people.

How to catch him: Here’s an example of the Tim Ferriss show with master photographer Chase Jarvis.

3. James Altucher

Claim to Fame: James made $15 million and then lost it all, including his house, in a two year span. He would eventually make it all back again. James has started 20 companies, and claims that 17 of them were unsuccessful. Now he spends his time writing and podcasting about it all.

Why I like him: James is a must-listen for any entrepreneur or businessperson. He filters nothing and tells about his candid experiences with his unique and vulnerable style. It’s through this that he is able to provide many life lessons – not just in business, but in family and love.

How to catch him: James’ blog is awesome – I get his daily emails and they are great. Recently, he started a podcast here. I’m also currently reading his book “The Power of No”. Every indication so far is that it is worth reading as well.

2. Joe Rogan

Claim to Fame: Many people know Joe from his UFC commentary and Fear Factor hosting, but the truth is those gigs do not showcase the interesting side of Joe at all. For those familiar with the podcasting world, Joe is one of the first people to start long form podcasting with the Joe Rogan Experience. He has about 500 podcasts that are 3 hours long each…that’s 62 days of content if you listened to them 24 hrs per day back-to-back. He’s had many people on this list as guests – and even more cool people I haven’t mentioned like Daniele Bollelli, Peter Schiff, Amber Lyon, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Chris Hadfield, and Graham Hancock.

Why I like him: Joe’s most important quality is his humility. He does not claim to be an intellectual at all, and is always open to ideas. He can shoot the shit with his guests and can also play devil’s advocate when needed. He is an advocate for the power of technology, and Joe understands that politics and America are messed up. He doesn’t try to know the answers, but probes all these areas very well which makes for an interesting discussion.

With so much content on the JRE, I tend to handpick content based on the guest. I prefer the expert guests over the UFC or comedy ones.

Where to catch him: I could make an entire post on my favourite JREs, but you can find them all here. Also, here’s one to start with:

1. Dan Carlin

Claim to Fame: Former radio host. Political thinker. Amateur historian. Doesn’t have the comparable credentials here that other picks have, but man, he just has one hell of a show (Hardcore History). It’s been rated by many as the top podcast on the web.

Why I like him: I talk about Dan so much that some of my friends probably hate me. I knew that I had always liked history, but I hate reading it from a textbook. Dan does the unthinkable: he takes true historical facts and weaves them into an easy-to-follow, suspenseful, and exciting narrative. Back when I first started listening to Dan’s show, Hardcore History, there would be entire weekends where I’d get nothing done except crush an entire 10 hour series on Ghengis Khan and the Mongols.

Where to catch him: If you have any appreciation for history at all – even an inkling – go to Dan’s website and immediately start with his series called “Death Throes of the Republic” on Rome. Or, if you want something free, his Wrath of the Khan (Mongols) series is still available for free. I promise you will love it. Another great series I loved was the one called the Punic Nightmares and a single long episode called Thor’s Angels on the Dark Ages.

Hidden in the maze of disparaging comments about fragilista economists and policymakers, Nassim Taleb has a more profound side. The majority of his content is geared to tackle things through a lens of risk mitigation, but I do think that there are pieces of what he says that go much deeper.

I discovered a series of gems in his Facebook feed the other day. Through several posts, he suggested that people should abide by the “Silver Rule” rather than the “Golden Rule”.

The Golden Rule, of course, is “do to others as you would have them do to you.”

The Silver Rule, in all its double negative glory, is “do not to others what you don’t want them to do to you.” In other words: never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself. It’s close in some ways to the Hippocratic Oath, or “do no harm”.

The Golden Fallacy

The Golden Rule seems ideal in at first glance. It’s straight from the Bible. In fact, there’s a version of it that can be found in many different world religions. And – if everyone is doing nice things for others, then who can argue against that?

However, it turns out to be a magnet for problems, misinterpretation, and intrusion.

The problem with the Golden Rule, as Taleb points out, is that it can be “an invitation to interventionism, utopianism, and meddling into other people’s affairs”.

Upon further reflection, this makes sense. We don’t all have the same preferences, so it does not really make a lot of sense for me to push something on other people because I would have liked it myself. It gets muddier when we mix in different viewpoints, cultures, and systems. As Carl Sagan sums up: “The Golden Rule takes no account of human differences.”

Sagan, who also looked at this in-depth, takes a game theory and prisoner’s dilemma perspective: “The Golden Rule is not only an unsuccessful strategy; it is also dangerous for other players, who may succeed in the short term only to be mowed down by exploiters in the long term.”

The Silver Lining

Taleb recognizes multiple benefits of using the Silver Rule over its golden counterpart. First, under uncertainty, the Silver Rule requires “skin in the game” (personal risk), as you can only expose others to risk that you are taking yourself. If you apply the Silver Rule and are mistaken, you have still done others no harm. In other words, it is more robust to errors.

Second, the Silver Rule also follows Taleb’s concept of via negativa. That is, omission of actions have no potential side effects or chains of unintended consequences. Remember that governments, corporations, consultants, and bankers do not usually follow via negativa. The only way they can personally gain is by adding something new. More regulations, policies, programs, and meddling. This is a recipe for making systems more complex, which leads to further fragility.

What I find most interesting about this whole discussion is that the Golden Rule is actually considered to be the basis of much utilitarian thinking. In fact, John Stuart Mill’s book Utilitarianism describes the rule as the “ideal perfection of utilitarian morality.”

The Silver Rule, on the other hand, seems to be more akin to the libertarian non-aggression principle. That is, that one should not initiate the use of force against others or their property.

Now, Taleb is not a libertarian or a utilitarian – he describes himself as a “left-wing conservative” and a “conservationist”. As I mentioned earlier, he tends to look at things from a risk perspective rather than an all-encompassing world view.

That said, I think there is much more to the Silver Rule than just risk mitigation. It may have the edge in practical morality as well.

Jeff Desjardins is an entrepreneur that founded Visual Capitalist and Tickerscores.
This is Jeff's medium to explore other things he's interested in: philosophy, self-knowledge, futurism, technology, history, and many aspects of business and entrepreneurship.